


Overheating Can Be Dangerous

by sallyamongpoison



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Cheeky Summer Story, Danse is actually pretty smooth, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Nudity, SS is totally not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-25
Updated: 2016-01-25
Packaged: 2018-05-16 03:26:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5811904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sallyamongpoison/pseuds/sallyamongpoison
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's hot outside. Holden wants a wash up and is interrupted by the object of his infatuation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Overheating Can Be Dangerous

It was sweltering. 

Holden couldn’t remember the last time he’d sweated this much. The truth was that after the Vault he tended to be cold more often than not, and often wore a thick cardigan that he’d found in a suitcase of a crashed airplane. It had been clean and cozy, which he liked, and he seemed to wear it around Starlight when the weather allowed for it. Today wasn’t one of those days.

The days were long and hot. It made everyone’s tempers short, and little spats here and there erupted over nothing. Chores and duties seemed to take twice as long. Starlight had been a great place to move their settlement when they’d started building back in February. Now? Now it was July and two hundred year old asphalt was still as hot as two year old asphalt in the sun. They’d joked, specifically MacCready, that they could probably cook an egg on it. He was probably right. 

Maybe they would when the heat started to get to be too much and they needed a laugh.

The nights weren’t as bad, thankfully. The breeze was usually pretty nice, which meant that people pulled the scraps of curtains and sheets away from the holes on walls and windows to get the air moving through the buildings, and Holden had taken to sitting out on the small stoop he’d built for Dogmeat and Hamster. It was some time to throw one of the balls he’d brought back for them and enjoy the cooler air. He’d never been much of one to be able to sleep when it was too hot. Playing with the dogs was a much better way to keep his mind occupied than just lying in bed, sweating and listening to the radio, and waiting for the sun to come up. 

Over by the cooking station, where they’d put up a basketball hoop, Holden watched as Cait and Deacon slowly dribbled and passed a ball between them. It was a small thing, just a hoop and ball, but it gave people something to do. Those two were probably taking more shots at each other than the hoop, anyway, but it was fun to watch. He was smiling, though his attention turned back to the dogs as he was all but tackled onto his back first by Hammy and the Dogmeat with wet noses and tongues.

“Alright, alright!” Holden laughed as he reached up and ruffled two sets of ears with both hands, “sorry.”

Dogmeat let out an excited wuff, playfully bent low, and leap forward to pounce happily on Holden’s chest. It didn’t  _ quite  _ knock the air out of him, but close enough. Both dogs nosed at him, yapped happily, and they wrestled for a while until Holden had been licked into submission and both Dogmeat and Hammy were panting and more lying on him than wrestling. They eventually found their way back into their houses, and Holden got to his feet go head inside his building so he could grab a bucket for wash-water.

It didn’t take long to grab the bucket he used for his room, and he had just closed over the door when he caught sight of a familiar silhouette heading in what looked to be the same direction. Danse. The water purifier was basically in the middle of everything so pretty much every direction went by it, but Holden might have picked up his gait a little to fall into step beside him .

“Figured you’d already be asleep,” Holden commented with a grin, “asleep with the dark and up with the sun type of thing.”

The floodlights kept most of the area lit reasonably well, and when Danse to turned to look at him they made his dark eyes shine. His face was red, flushed, and sweaty. It was...it was a good look. In a short sleeved shirt that showed off the thick muscles of his arms, jeans, and what looked to be a surprised expression Danse looked good in the mix of flood and moonlight. They’d been talking more, spending more time together that wasn’t just working on armor or going out on distress calls or business.

Holden liked that time, for sure, but he also liked those moments when they’d play checkers in his room or sit at the same table over by the cooking stations with a beer. Sometimes they’d talk. Sometimes not. Sometimes the others gathered and they prodded at each other like friends and siblings. This merry band, sometimes of weirdos as Hancock would say, was actually kind of like family: it was dysfunctional but loyal, poked fun good naturedly, and seemed to actually care about everyone involved. He hadn’t seen that in a random group of people in a long time. 

Those quiet moments, moments like this, were steadily becoming moments Holden kept close to his chest when he had to be alone. He recounted them, let them fill his mind and soul with some light, and tried to get as many as he could. Good things were sometimes hard to find in the Commonwealth, good times too, and any he could steal were as good as gold or better. Even just the sight of seeing Danse pink-cheeked and flushed from the heat was...well, it was definitely going to play back later.

“The weather makes it hard to want to sleep,” Danse answered, “the others are playing poker and I’m not...cards aren’t my game.”

Holden nodded and gestured to his bucket, which immediately felt like a stupid move the moment he’d done it, “Yeah, I...I was playing with the dogs. Now I think I need a bath more than them.”

That made Danse chuckle and he swept an appraising kind of glance over the other man, “I imagine you wish for a running shower, hm?” he asked, “with real, working plumbing?”

“There’s not much better than a hot shower after a long day, yeah,” Holden agreed with a laugh, “but, you know...night like tonight and all? It would have just been probably as cold as it’ll be in this. Only, you know, easier than trying to use a rag.”

“I would believe it,” Danse agreed. He bobbed his head, dark eyes still stuck on Holden’s grey ones, and went quiet. Never a man of more words than necessary, sometimes talking to danse could be a bit like speaking to a brick wall. A very...muscled brick wall. 

“So what are you doing if they’re playing?” Holden asked, “just walking? Perimeter check?”

“Something like that.”

It was Holden’s turn to bob his head, and he slowed as they neared the small well that bubbled up in the middle of the semi-circle of buildings, “Yeah,” he answered, and looked down at his bucket, “well, you know, if you...want to play a game just us, I’ll be up. I can never sleep when it’s hot like this so I’ll probably be up for hours.”

He’d extended the invite before with varying success. Sometimes Danse would stop in, sometimes not, and sometimes he’d bring along a beer or two for them to sip. Holden never really knew what he was going to get. He was always happy when Danse would come by, just because he liked the man’s company, and when he didn’t...well, sometimes he did wonder why. They flirted, or what felt like flirting, every now and then. Danse wasn’t terribly subtle, tended to take things literally, and Holden sometimes felt like he had no idea what he was doing with that. Sometimes it would be received with a smile and a nod, and others it would be completely ignored.

Danse was also the first man he’d really been interested in since he’d retired. Before that it had been years since he’d had more than a fleeting attraction, too. There were pretty guys, both then and now, that he could look at. That was the easy part. Getting to know someone and liking the  _ person _ instead of the  _ idea _ ? That was where it sometimes got hairy. At least with Danse, it seemed like anyway, the man was good. Maybe he wasn’t perfect, but who was? Certainly Holden wasn’t, and he wasn’t about to expect Danse to be either. He just liked him. It was like a schoolboy crush, actually, but it was the most real thing he’d felt in probably two centuries plus two decades.

“Once I’ve had a walk,” Danse replied, and looked Holden up and down before he nodded toward the bucket in his hands, “and I’ll let you, uh, get cleaned up.”

Steel grey eyes lowered back down to the bucket and Holden barked out a laugh before he coughed to try to cover it up, “Yeah, sure. That sounds good.”

“Good.”

Holden smiled, and Danse smiled back. They stayed that way for a long moment before Danse gestured to the well, “Are you...going to get your water?”

Shit. Well, that was smooth, wasn’t it?

“Yes. Yes I am,” Holden agreed with a nod, then another awkward laugh, and half stumbled away so he could bend over to fill his bucket. As he filled it, he could help but swear softly:  _ fucking idiot, great job. _ That didn’t stop him from looking casually over his shoulder, though, if only to see if Danse was still there.

Sadly not.

\--

Both Holden’s military training and his need for vigilance living in the Wasteland should have made sure he heard his door open. That said, he also had the radio on and was wholly absorbed in raking the scratchy washcloth he’d pulled from his wash kit over his arms. The water was cool and clean, which was certainly nice, and Holden gasped as he pressed the cold washcloth against his too-hot skin.

Except he hadn’t. He hadn’t gasped.

Shit.

He turned, and grey eyes met dark ones. Danse stood in the doorway of his room, frozen in place, and was blinking at the sight of Holden standing before his bucket...naked, as he was prone to doing when he washed. And staring. 

“I thought you were, uh...walking!” Holden choked out as he tried to grab for the starchy (but clean) towel on his bed to wrap around his waist.

Danse was quiet for a long moment, “I was,” he answered, “but I decided it would be better for us both if I came here.”

There was a long pause before Holden made a soft sound, “better?” he asked.

The other man nodded and closed the door behind him. “You’re still flushed,” Danse commented, “overheated?”

_ Well, now I am.  _ “A bit, yeah,” Holden answered, and was about to open his mouth again before Danse plucked the washcloth from his hand, dipped it back in the cold water in the bucket, and started to rub it along his back in all those, er, hard to reach places. “Danse-”

“Easy,” Danse murmured, and Holden was suddenly very aware of the cold rag and the warmth coming off of Danse from where he stood behind him.

Easy. Oh, he certainly felt easy at the moment. Even more when he felt something scratchy that wasn’t the cloth at the back of his neck. Scruffy and also soft, Holden bit at his lip when he realized: lips. A kiss to the back of his neck. God, it was suddenly entirely too hot and that cloth wasn’t helping.

“You’re blushing more,” was the comment against his ear, “maybe you need to cool down a bit.”

“Or heat up.”

“Overheating can be dangerous.”

Holden groaned a bit as the cloth moved down his spine, and jumped a bit when the towel he’d only half tied around his waist was pulled aside and the cloth moved lower. Danse...fucking  _ Danse _ was going to be the death of him. And Holden kind of didn’t even care. It was too hot to care, and that attention was too much for him to be able to even begin to formulate reason why they  _ shouldn’t _ be doing this. 

“I think...I think I’ll manage.” Holden breathed.

“You said the heat made it hard for you to sleep,” Danse commented, and Holden shivered when he felt a hand on his hip.

“Yeah, I can think of a few other things we could do instead.”

**Author's Note:**

> Random Fact: the dog Hammy (short for Hamster because animals named after other animals is my jam) is one of the Junkyard dogs you can acquire. Holden would adopt all of the dogs if he could.
> 
> Come find me on tumblr! @sallyamongpoison


End file.
